Thursday, June 18, 2015

Summer has finally come to Dartmoor! It’s been a very cold
spring and I think even the faeries have taken their time coming out of
hibernation! But- it’s beautiful now and
getting warmer every day. We did have the most stunning bluebells out this
spring. The last remaining few are holding on but the lanes, fields and woods
have given over to roses, honeysuckle and elderflowers.

Brian and I will be appearing at the 3 Wishes Faery Fest at
Mount Edgecumbe Country Park in Cornwall with our friend and fellow faery
artist Renae Taylor this coming Saturday. It’s on for the whole weekend but
unfortunately we’ll only be able to be there on Saturday - so if you want to see all three of us, buy
books and prints, have them signed or just come and say hi - come on Saturday! And – let’s all ask the
faeries to help with beautiful weather for the whole event!

It’s been a month of getting together with friends visiting Chagford.
We spent a lovely afternoon with our friend Virginie Ropars – the most amazing
polymer clay sculptor!!! and her lovely mother Michelle. We’ve known each other
for years and it’s always great to meet up and find out what we’ve both been up
to since we last saw each other. If you don’t know Virginie’s work, DO go to
her website and check it out – it’s the best.

We’ve been busy working on a new “Cottington” pressed faery
book that will be coming out next year. It’s a bit of a departure for me but I’m
enjoying writing for the rather mad Cottingtons! We’re bringing it up to date
and it should be fun.

We’re (Toby and I) also going to be teaching a workshop in Portland at
the Fernie Brae Gallery at the end of August. It’s slightly different because
Brian will be teaching as well, but it will be a great chance for people to not
only create a sculpt but also learn some of Brian’s techniques and apply those
as well to creating a character from conception to finish. We’re all looking
forward to it. It will be the first time all three of us have taught together.
We aren’t often all in the same place at once so it’s going to be quite
special. This is part of the Fernie Brae opening exhibition and sale so come
and see us there.

I’m also going to be sharing a workshop space in Chagford
with three other artists beginning in July. Virginia Lee, Danielle Earp, Angharad
Barlow and I will be sharing a space (above Spar) making strange and
interesting things that we don’t always give ourselves the chance to make in
our studios at home. Toys, automata, marionettes, and what ever else takes our
fancy. It will be open to the public sometimes so if you would like to come in
and say hello, you just might catch us on a day when we’re working there! And
faeries -there WILL be faeries! We
haven’t thought of a name yet so it’s just ‘the studio’ for now.

Just reading this back makes me tired! We’re busy - but happy. It’s always exciting to begin
work on new projects and see others come to fruition.

I’m still making small trolls for my etsy site and I’ll be
putting a few more up for sale around the 21st (that’s Sunday) so
check and see what’s available.

That’s it for now I think. No profound thoughts for summer
yet - just enjoying the sunshine and new
beginnings.

Here are a few photos of some of the things I’ve just
mentioned.

Have a wonderful solstice and hopefully we’ll be seeing some
of you this coming Saturday at 3 Wishes Faery Fest!

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

What a strange January it’s been. We always hope that the
New Year will bring new beginnings, hope, creative energy and a renewed sense
of purpose. Well - this hasn't been the
case for us and from what I've learned from friends and

people I've been having conversations with, it hasn't been
the case for many of them either. Strange full moon? Weird planet alignments?
Hibernating faeries? I don’t know. But I’m hoping that now we have moved in to
February, things will begin to improve a bit.

There are so many exciting things on the horizon this year,
I hardly know where to begin. There are lots of projects in the pipeline (or
standing in front of the pipeline, waiting to go in) and wonderful
opportunities for creative collaborations. As I write this, I realize that
there aren't many things solid enough to talk about yet – so you’ll just have
to wait (as we are doing). But - if you
have any spare fingers you could keep them crossed for us!

I CAN tell you that we will be guests again at the AvalonFaery Fayre and Ball in Glastonbury on March 14th (and part of the
15th). And we will also be guests at ELFIA – the fantastic fantasy
event in the Netherlands on April 25/26. I’ll give you more details as we get
closer to the date.

I’m also hoping to co-teach a workshop with Toby, in
Portland at a fantastic new gallery space, over the Easter weekend – that’s
April 3-5. But - we’re only now working out
the details. I'll post on our Realm of Froud Facebook page when we have all the details worked out.

As I promised in December, I’ve made a few more small faery
companions for Etsy. We’ll put them up on the site tomorrow but I wanted to
tell everyone first and give you a chance to see them here.

Well - back to
work - and here’s hoping that the second
month of the New Year and Imbolc bring us all bright, new beginnings and
a creative spark!

Monday, August 11, 2014

We’ve had a summer full of celebrations and some sadness, inspiration and bouts of exhaustion but it HAS felt like summer - and still does. The garden is beautiful again, and work, when we get the chance to do it, is going well. We’re gearing up for an autumn of book signings, lectures, workshops, a Labyrinth Ball, film showings and an exhibition of work from “Faeries’ Tales” at AFA gallery. Lots to do. I may even have missed a few things! We’re going to be busy. So - it’s good to just be at home for a while, entertaining friends, spending sunny evenings in the garden and letting the world carry on without us.

When we get busy and crazy we tend to forget to just stop and look or listen - just experience the world around us. When we actually do that, it is easy to feel the nearness of the Faerie Realm, nature spirits and natural energy shifting and flowing as we stand or sit still and become aware of it. We paint it, sculpt it and write about it but sometimes we just forget to observe it. That’s the most important thing of all. So we both are trying to spend time each day just being here, in the present. It helps to remind us of why we do what we do. Magic is illusive and delicate and to capture it at all, it’s a good idea to remember to take time and be aware. There - that’s my musing for the day. I’m going to try to take my own advice.

We recently (two weekends ago actually) had a wonderful time in Brittany in the magical forest of Broceliande, attending a book and art festival at the Arthurian Center there. Wonderful people, renewed friendships and lots of new friends made as well. We gave a talk (quite something to have it all translated in to French!) and a puppet making and movement workshop with our friend and master puppet performer William Todd Jones (or Todd, as he is called). Fantastic to see twenty aspiring puppeteers with their arms in the air, a simple puppet on their hand, singing “Frere Jacques” as a round! We loved it! There is a beautiful exhibition of Brian and my art in the Arthurian Centre at the moment (it’s on until the end of the month) and Toby’s film made its French debut there as well. We loved everything about the festival and felt a true connection between where we live on Dartmoor and this ancient, magical place in Brittany. We will certainly go there again because we just didn’t have enough time to see and experience everything we wished to. Looking forward to it!

We are attending Karen Kay’s Labyrinth Ball in Glastonbury on August 29th. It will be great fun and we look forward to seeing lots of friends there. Do come if you can!

Toby’s film, Lessons Learned, will be screening in three film festivals at the end of the month and then he will be joining us in Chagford for the Chagford Film Festival at the end of September – you can see “Lessons Learned “ there. All three of us will be there for a lecture, book signing and perhaps a puppet workshop (with puppet movement master and puppeteer Todd) too. Again - come if you can - it’s going to be pretty exciting!

We will be signing “Faeries Tales” at Forbidden Planet on Saturday September 6th from 1 to 2 pm. Come along and support us if you can! You’ll also have the chance to get books signed at Gnash Comics in Ashburton on Saturday September 20th. We do count on your support so come and help us make this book the success we would love it to be. It will make the faeries happy too - and you know how important it is to make the faeries happy!

In October we’ll be in New York for Comic Con, the AFA gallery for an exhibition (running 9/18 to 10/10 ) for the closing reception event and book signing on October 10th, a talk and signing at the Society of Illustrators on October 14th, hopefully a talk and signing at the University of Connecticut and a weekend of events at the BAM Puppetry on Film Festival at the end of the month. We also have a new app coming out in the middle of September - Faces of Faerie - it looks fantastic and is really fun and quirky. LOTS going on! Come and join us when ever and where ever you can.

Well, I think that’s it for the moment. After having said that the summer has been lovely, we’re having the remnants of a tropical storm sweeping through today - lots of wind and rain. Good weather to work in so I’m headed back to the studio.

And remember to stop once in a while and connect with the faery energy around you -that’s what we’ll be trying to do!

Friday, June 20, 2014

We’ve had a fantastic time in the states so far, catching up with business and friends in New York (including finding the perfect café for Brian) and then spending one of the most interesting, challenging and inspiring weeks we've ever had as guest instructors at IMC - the Illustration Master Class that takes place every summer in Amherst, Mass.

We came there feeling very shy and apprehensive about what we could contribute to the mix of fantastic professionals who teach and share their expertise with the students (who are a mix of professional and non-professional artists) but left feeling like we had been able to add something unexpected and exciting to the whole thing. Anyway - we LOVED it! Thank you Rebecca Guay and all of the other instructors and students who made it such an amazing experience!

Tomorrow afternoon we will be attending the premier of Toby’s film “Lessons Learned” at the Hollywood theater in Portland. We can’t wait to see it on a big screen! There is such a buzz surrounding the film and the only thing that could remotely disappoint anyone is that it’s only fifteen minutes long. But then, it’s always good to leave people wanting more! Seeing the puppets in person (all in Toby and Sarah’s house) is wonderful. The craftsmanship and effort involved in making them shines out. They are indeed beautiful and fascinating creations.

Since it seems that we can never just sit still and relax (what’s that?) we are also working on a trailer for Youtube for the up coming book “Brian Froud’s Faeries’ Tales” while we’re here. We are taking advantage of Toby’s many skills to put together something fun that will of course have a puppet in it!

The new app “Faces of Faerie” is also almost finished and we are excited to be seeing the newest version of it when we return to New York next week.

All in all it is a very busy and exciting time for us. At the end of next week when we return home, we’ll start to concentrate on the festival in France and the book launch in New York and the gallery exhibition that will open at AFA gallery in the middle of September, but before doing that I can’t imagine anything better than to sit in the garden surrounded by faeries and drinking a nice cup of tea!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Well - this has been a VERY long break! Sorry about that. I’ve been in Michigan, land of eternal snow (this spring at least) and then trying to catch up with everything I missed while I was away. I’ve continued the stories of B. and Cat Bell in both Faery and Fae magazines and I’ve very much enjoyed discovering what those two are getting up to!

Brian and I have been following the progress of Toby’s film “Lessons Learned” and were just delighted to be sent a final cut of it a few days ago. Speaking as artists (and extremely proud parents as well) and viewers - it’s fantastic! It leaves you wishing it was a whole lot longer! We’ve seen it quite a few times now and as Brian said to Toby yesterday -there’s more to see every time you view it. It’s multilayered and wonderfully complex. We can’t wait to see it on a big screen! Brian said that seeing his design for the spider woman (Fate) brought to life was one of the most satisfying interpretations of his work he’s seen on film so far. It is absolutely wonderful to see Froudian puppets on film again!

We’re working on a new app that will come out just after our new book “Brian Froud’s Faeries’ Tales” comes out this autumn. It’s REALLY fun and quite strange (in a good way!). People have had such a positive and strong reaction to the faery portraits Brian painted for the book that we decided to incorporate them into an app. Everyone who has tried it can’t stop playing with it! We’ll tell you more as we get further along in the process.

We’ll be teaching in just a few weeks now as part of IMC – Illustration Master Class in Amherst. We’re really looking forward to being a part of this wonderful week long gathering of students and an amazing group of instructors! It’s very exciting.

I followed CatBell outside today and photographed her exploring the spring flowers in the lane and meadow near our house. She looks very happy to be out in the fresh air. I’ll have to see if B. would like to come out some time soon as well!

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Brian and I want to say a big
“thank you” to Karen Kay and all of the people in Glastonbury who made last
weekend so successful and truly enjoyable. We had a wonderful time! It was good
to catch up with old friends, meet new people and help spread faery energy in
the town. The weather was glorious (the only drawback being that we were inside
for both days!) but we could feel the sun shining and could certainly feel
everyone’s spirits lifting. The Steam Punk Faery Ball was great! The costumes
were so inventive and imaginative that it felt far more as though people were
putting on their “real” cloths after having to wear human disguises all week.
Perhaps some of the beings attending both the ball and the fayre were less
human than we knew. I always think that these events are perfect places for
faeries to mingle without being noticed!

B and Cat Bell
loved coming along and they enjoyed the attention from those of you who had
read about them in Fae magazine. They made friends with Armorel’s “Faybles”,
inhabiting the table next to us. I hope they haven’t given Cat Bell too many
wild ideas (she’s very easily influenced!).

We apologize for
running out of books so quickly -
especially ‘Trolls’. I should have ordered more. Oh well - next time! Thank you all for the wonderful
response to our preview of the new book, ‘Faeries’ Tales’. We’re very excited
about it and it was wonderful to see that you were as well.

It’s back to work
now. The sun is still shinning and we’re once again inside, working - but
- at least we know it’s there!

I was so busy during the fayre that
I didn’t have time to take many pictures. I’m sure you’ll be able to find many
more on other facebook pages. Here are just a few from us.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Brian and I are feeling bear-ish.
We’d like to hibernate for a month or so – maybe until it stops raining. Well,
that might be more than a month if the past three months are anything to go
by. But
- we’re not bears and we can’t just sleep away the grey days. Buster and
Elfie would get up to too much mischief if we did.

I think the faeries are doing a bit
of their own hibernating. Nothing seems “active” at the moment. There are flowers coming up (tentatively) and
the birds are beginning to sing their spring songs, but it still feels
everything is waiting to make that leap into the new. There isn’t any activity
in our house (I’m still talking about faeries here) but perhaps that’s because
they spent a very busy few months helping and hindering us while we finished
the book. I truly believe that they don’t always know if they ARE helping or
hindering. They just do what seems appropriate to them and it may not be at all
appropriate to us. Here’s a good example of what I mean.

I decided (for some foolish reason)
that I would write an afterword for the Faeries’ Tales book - the last double page spread, explaining
where some of the original stories and songs I used came from. Sounds like a
good idea - very grown up and book-ish.
I duly did this and congratulated myself on the fact that I could do it (with
help from Terri Windling and my editors!). I gave the pages to Brian (remember
– this is the last two page spread in the book) and asked him to choose a few
drawings to liven it up for any intrepid reader who ventured all the way to the
very end pages. He did so and we sent it off to the editor for corrections. I hadn’t paid much attention to the drawings
he used, only noting that the very last one looked more than slightly mad. The
page spread was returned with a few things to correct and at this point Brian
said “I just knew this page spread would be trouble”.

We corrected and sent it back. The
memory stick we sent got lost in the post. We sent it again and when it arrived
it was found that we had sent the wrong version of the pages. We sent it via
internet (after all it was only two pages!) and again more corrections came
back -things that no one had spotted
before. We corrected and sent it back. It came back again with yet more and
different corrections. This was bad enough, but every time we tried to correct
the text, it took a different form on the pages. Sometimes it left out
sections, sometimes it changes the format, sometimes it just refused to do
anything.

As we were looking at it on the
computer for what seemed like the hundredth time I said “I feel just like that
little drawing you put in the corner” and Brian confessed that he had put it in
as a joke because he just knew this page spread was going to be trouble and
would drive us crazy. Well - it did. The
faery in the drawing was just doing its job. It had been drawn to be crazy and
it was indeed crazy and very happily going about its business spreading that
craziness around as much as it could. It was far too late to take it out and
replace it with another drawing so we had to make due with a stern talk, trying
to explain to it that it had now done its job and could stop!

We sent the pages off again and so
far we haven’t had them back for any more corrections. I think our editor was
being driven as crazy as we were. We’ll get color corrections for the whole
book back soon. Luckily, that page spread is in black and white - so, what could go wrong? Hah!

And what have we learned from this?
Maybe that what one brings into this world, matters. Brian may still draw crazy
faeries, but he’s going to be much more careful about where they go from now on
(he says that now but he probably won’t do it)!

One last word. Most of the faeries
involved in helping with the book did just that. They helped, inspired and
facilitated. We thank them. Actually, we thank them all, helpful or otherwise.
After all, they’re only doing their job. It’s up to us to be sensible about it!